So you surrendered … broke down … gave in … yep, you bought an Amy Winehouse cd. Silly silly boy, why did ya do it? I realize it was used and under $10 but c’mon … you know better. Ohhhh, I see … it was all that Grammy hype that piqued your interest. I forgot, your collection is just FULL of recent Grammy winners. You think you should give her a fair shake since you’ve only heard the big hit off the record … that’s sweet of you. Maybe there something magical buried in the “deep cuts” of the disc … yeah – like the silence between tracks. Well, fine! You bought it! Now YOU gotta listen to the damn thing!

The above is a loose transcription of the ass-chewing my conscience gave me for picking up Back to Black by Amy Winehouse. I almost put it back because I kept thinking about what a product she is. She’s got the look & the attitude to sell cd’s, dvd’s & downloads. Get a good producer, organize a backing band of kick-ass studio musicians, and give her as many takes on each song (with the auto-tune pitch control on of course) as she needs and you’re ready to unleash the next hip thing. That’s not a singer – it’s a widget! But then I thought, wait a minute – isn’t that pretty much what Motown did? Hmmm, is she a modern day Diana Ross or a modern day “girl #2 on back-ups”? So I figured if Motown is acceptable, then Ms. Winehouse should get a spin … so c’mon … pop that disc in!

I must give kudos to the engineers & producer … this disc has a warm spacious sound. The band is smooth as hell. The instrumentation of the songs keeps things interesting. Ms. Winehouse does a bang up job on this disc. Touch of raspiness here, a lil’ cockeyness there, some smooth soulful moments and then some downright naughtiness sprinkled around. Overall this is a great Pop Vocal record.

You have to remember that Pop is not Rock, and that creativity is measured differently between those genres. Rock bands get rewarded (in public opinion) for things other than “writing a good tune”. Alternative tunings, odd time changes, new sounds, etc. are things that elevate rock bands’ reputations in people’s minds even though the band might not be able to write a single catchy song. The Pop genre relies on proven material or sounds and leaves it up to the vocalist to make it creative.

Amy Winehouse makes things interesting with her voice & her lyrics. Her voice is intriguing if you can stand it. She hangs out in the higher register with a nasally quacking type voice and when she tries to go low, it’s thin and not as moving as you’d think it should be. But, once your ear adjusts to it you can appreciate her phrasing and inflection. Lyrically, these aren’t traditional love songs or torch songs about a woman pining for her man. They are contemporary assertive & at times rude.

You’re not going to find much in innovation on this record, so if you’re a stickler for bands having to do something you’ve never heard before – don’t bother with this disc. But, if you can appreciate a tight band playing some great sounding soul & jazz with a touch of ska, with a gal who doesn’t sound like every other soul singer on the market – then pick up Back to Black. There’s nothing “New” on this disc, but it’s a party … the songs will be familiar sounding (even if you’ve never heard this disc), it makes ya move your feet (and grind your hips once in a while), and it sounds like fun … again, kudos to the producer for that.

Since I found myself diggin’ this cd, I figured I’d hunt down her earlier release “Frank”. Luckily a friend had it & said I could check it out along with a live recording “I Told You I was Trouble”. My conscience laid off on me because now it was kind of ashamed about the whole “yer a dope for buying into the hype” beratement. Anyhow …

Immediately after popping Frank into the disc player you hear a totally different vibe. The disc sounds more contained than Back to Black. It also doesn’t have that groovy sound. Remember the 90’s? Remember Jamiroquai? Well this disc has that hip-hop/70’s soul/Disco sound to it. Again, not very original – but this time not arranged as well and the recording isn’t as good and the band’s parts border on boring and then we have Ms. Winehouse.

Ah yes, Amy Winehouse … or the cat strangler … it’s really your choice here. Frank is a painful listen due to her voice. She attempts to climb scales & jump octaves and it’s always up-up-up with that thin nasally voice. I could only handle about 45 seconds of her bludgeoning “There is No Greater Love” before I had to eject the cd – run & grab my Dinah Washington version of the song and sooth my ears with a proper rendition of it.

At this point my conscience piped up with an, “AHEM! What did I tell you?” but I forged on! I put Frank back in the player and fought hard to listen to the rest of the songs in their entirety, but I couldn’t do it. Stale hip-hop/70’s soul and that voice … yikes! I made it through about halfway through on each of the remaining tracks.

Did I say that the producer of Back to Black deserves more recognition. Hmmm, according to Wikipedia, Salaam Remi (who produced Frank) & Mark Ronson are credited as producers, since Mr. Ronson is the new player in this equation – my money’s on him. However he got her to stay in a reasonable range and quit all that scale-climbing octave-fluttering is anyone’s guess, but thank goodness he did.

With my conscience doing a victory lap shouting “told ya so told ya so” I grabbed a cold one & popped in the live disc. This would be a test of Amy & the band. I knew it would be produced and not a true representation of a live show, but at least it was out of the studio and she had to sing with the band and it’s as close to seeing her live as I’ll get, so …

This recording has a nice medium room sound to it. The band is kickin’ ass on Back to Black & Frank tracks and Amy sounds great for a good portion of the disc. Unfortunately she mumbles like crazy, she does that high pitched scale crap, and the thinness of her voice is very apparent. When she’s on – she’s On … but there’s several times where she sounds like a bad impersonation of Billie Holiday shifting into a mediocre Ella and then a slightly better Tina Turner. I was happy to hear a Toots & the Maytalls cover though (Monkey Man). My conscience was too … when ya cover a cool tune like that ya gotta be sorta ok.

So – what have we learned … Amy Winehouse is unique in her delivery and tone but she ain’t all that. At least not yet. If she doesn’t end up OD’ing and she takes some direction and her voice matures, she just might end up being the type of singer she thinks she is. The band is awesome! The songs on Back to Black & their stage fashion show their Mod influences (Northern Soul, Ska, Rock Steady, Jazz) and I like the fact the general public is getting clued in on that scene.

Did she deserve all those Grammy Awards? C’mon … it’s the Grammy’s – who freakin’ cares. Outside of saluting musicians that should have been recognized 30 or 40 years ago or even posthumously, the Grammy’s salute the cream of the crap.

Well, I’ll save my Grammy Rant for another time … Amy Winehouse is not as bad as I figured. I wonder if I can find an instrumental version of Back to Black … that’d be fantastic.